Thursday, March 24, 2011

Blooms and Occurrence

Paintings by Kim Manfredi - 'There are blobs emerging from blobs, and shapes separating themselves from one another.':

Occurrence by Kim Manfredi
Occurrence detail by Kim Manfredi
Blooms by Kim Manfredi
Blooms detail by Kim Manfredi

Via but does it float

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The Aurora

Filmmaker Terje Sorgjerd spent a week capturing one of the biggest aurora borealis shows in recent years:



Haha, I've seen this mentioned somewhere else... the Double rainbow guy would've been going ape shit!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Dark Side of the Moon

Dark Side of the Moon / photo by Apollo 16, April 1972

Dark Side of the Moon by Apollo16

Apollo 16 Onboard Photograph: Back Side of the Moon
This view of the back side of the Moon was captured by the Apollo 16 mission crew. The sixth manned lunar landing mission, the Apollo 16 (SA-511), carrying three astronauts: Mission Commander John W. Young, Command Module pilot Thomas K. Mattingly II, and Lunar Module pilot Charles M. Duke, lifted off on April 16, 1972. The Apollo 16 continued the broad-scale geological, geochemical, and geophysical mapping of the Moon's crust, begun by the Apollo 15, from lunar orbit. This mission marked the first use of the Moon as an astronomical observatory by using the ultraviolet camera/spectrograph which photographed ultraviolet light emitted by Earth and other celestial objects. The Lunar Roving Vehicle, developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center, was also used. The mission ended on April 27, 1972.


Via june 1972

Golden Parachutes

“Golden Parachutes”, gold leaf and pencil drawings by James Bills:

Golden Parachutes, RxRxR, by James Bills
Golden Parachutes, 8x8xR, by James Bills
Golden Parachutes, 8x8x9, by James Bills

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Fold

Riyo Nemeth’s Fold project uses folded photocopies to create art - black photocopied paper is folded vertically or from both sides over and over again to create this strikingly effective texture:

Fold by Riyo Nemeth
Fold by Riyo Nemeth
Fold by Riyo Nemeth

Friday, March 11, 2011

Around the Center

Really like this series, Around the Center, from Luisa Sartori - paintings on wood panels and drawings inspired by traditional cosmological maps and mandala-like architectural plans:

Earth/sky # 10 from Around the Center by Luisa Sartori
Earth/sky #8 from Around the Center by Luisa Sartori
Sky/Earth #7 from Around the Center by Luisa Sartori
Earth/sky #2 from Around the Center by Luisa Sartori

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Stellar Quilts

I'm not normally a fan of crafty stuff but these quilts are stellar... literally (see what I did there?!) -

stellarquilts - The Pillars of Creation

Available on Etsy from Jimmy McBride's stellarquilts store, they also carry a stellar price tag ranging from $2,200 to an intergalactic $12,000!

stellarquilts - M64 V3 (The Black Eye Galaxy)

I love this Phobos V2 quilt...

stellarquilts - Phobos V2
stellarquilts - Phobos V2

"they say in space, "no one can hear you scream." well, they can't hear the low drone of the internal power generators kick on again when you're half way to nowhere. i can. i work for a shipping company called "intergalactic transport." i travel back and forth from rock to rock carrying those two all important gems- salt and vinegar. there's a lot of time to kill up here so i downloaded a grandma program and she's been teaching me how to quilt. there's no "log cabins" or "pointsettias" around so i just stare out the window until something catches my eye. it's nice every once in a while to shoot the shit with a fellow traveler, or get caught up in the new dawn celebrations in the outer rim, but mostly it's just me; with a lot of time on my hands." - Jimmy McBride

Intergalactic Transport Blackmarket by stellarquilts on Etsy

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Solar Flare

Gorgeous HD video of a monster solar prominence from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft:



NASA image captured Feb. 24, 2011

To view a high res still from this event go here: www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/5483196119/

When a rather large-sized (M 3.6 class) flare occurred near the edge of the Sun, it blew out a gorgeous, waving mass of erupting plasma that swirled and twisted over a 90-minute period (Feb. 24, 2011). This event was captured in extreme ultraviolet light by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft . Some of the material blew out into space and other portions fell back to the surface. Because SDO images are super-HD, we can zoom in on the action and still see exquisite details. And using a cadence of a frame taken every 24 seconds, the sense of motion is, by all appearances, seamless. Sit back and enjoy the jaw-dropping solar show.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO
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